Sexual assault trial paused for seven months is not good for justice or for those involved
YouTuber case is slated to resume in November
I write often about our overloaded court system.
Cases thrown out because they have exceeded the legal time limit or paused because an accredited interpreter can’t be found. Scheduling difficulties for judges needed in two places at once, defence lawyers who aren’t available for trials for the next year and courtrooms that can’t open because there is no available staff.
For the past week I have been covering a Superior Court of Justice sexual assault trial that is now facing that problem in real time. The case is adjourned — possibly until November.
That is not good for justice and it’s certainly not good for those involved in the trial.
The lives of the complainant and accused are on hold for seven months.
YouTuber Jack Densmore is accused of forcing a former McMaster University student into oral and vaginal sex, and using his phone to film her. The allegations stem from a first date on Aug. 5, 2020. He was arrested on March 23, 2021. His trial was scheduled to begin April 8, but didn’t start until April 12. Justice John Krawchenko, who is hearing the matter without a jury, has only said publicly that there was “an event” that led to the delay.
Since it opened, the trial has heard from just one witness — the student. After her examination-inchief by the Crown, there was a day of in-camera legal arguments, which the public was not allowed to hear.
On Thursdy, the defence finished cross-examining the student. And the next day, in an effort to streamline the proceedings, the Crown and defence worked out an agreed statement of facts to eliminate the need to call several witnesses. It agrees, for instance, that DNA on the student’s back matches Densmore and is likely from semen.
Now, everything has come to a grinding halt.
The trial has used up all its scheduled court time.
Court heard the student testified during her fourth-year exams at the university she now attends. Whatever her life plans are will be interrupted again by the continuation of the trial.
And Densmore has a whole other trial pending. In a separate matter, involving a different woman, he is charged with sexual assault, voyeurism and distributing intimate images.
The defence counsel and Crown attorney will have to regroup and prepare — again — to resume the trial. The judge most certainly will have to refresh his memory before jumping back in.
At the time of the first date, the student was 19 (she is now 22) and had just finished her first year at Mac. Her identity is protected by a publication ban.
Densmore was 26 (now 29) and well-known for his YouTube videos in which he goes by the name Jack Denmo. In those videos, he hits on drunk university students, signing their breasts and encouraging them to have sex with multiple partners at homecoming street parties. Some videos have been viewed 10 million times.
He also offers online tutorials for men wanting to learn how to talk to women.
The delays in our justice system are causing unprecedented turmoil. Causes include growing case loads, an antiquated administrative system, understaffed courthouses, shortages of accredited interpreters, volumes of paperwork, limited physical space, a rise in self-represented accused, a pandemic, a lack of IT staff and courtroom technology, inadequate technology and trained staff in jails, frequent adjournments, the overscheduling of defence counsel and a dearth of judges.
Nearly a year ago, Canada’s Chief Justice Richard Wagner of the Supreme Court of Canada wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alerting him to the crisis and urging the appointment of more judges across the country.
The problem is nowhere near solved. Hamilton is short judges at both the Superior Court and Ontario Court of Justice levels.
Densmore’s trial is now scheduled to continue Nov. 25 and is expected to take another five days. However, if the trial time can be found earlier — and everyone involved can be available — it could resume sooner.
Meanwhile, we wait.